Author's Note: I don't own the story Suzanne Collins does and she's an absolute genius. Here's my one-shot on Finnick pondering his humanity.

Planet

I think I should have been a planet. I am virtually lifeless, yet I keep moving anyway for one reason- Annie. Annie is my sun. She keeps me going even when I feel like I am worthless and should have just died in the Arena ten years ago.

I liked her from the moment I first met her eleven years ago. She was a year younger than I was in school, so she and I never interacted much. That was until I knocked into her at the docks one day.

I worked on a fishing boat to support myself since my mother died when I was young and my dad had never been around. I was finishing up mending my nets and was getting ready to go back to my "house", when she tripped over me while trying to go see her brother. She had caused me to let go of one of my nets and it had fallen into the water. I was looking up to tell her off when I saw her eyes. They were a beautiful shade of green, the same bright green color of some of the plants near the shore.

I fell for her that very minute and I have never looked back. We apologized to one another after the run-in and she invited me to dinner to make up for the net. Her family graciously allowed me to eat with them and they were very welcoming. This was, by far, the happiest point in my life. Too bad it only lasted a year.

I was drawn for the Reaping at age fourteen. I had only 8 entries out of the approximately 7000 slips of paper in the bowl. I had no one to volunteer for me either; District Four may be a Career district, but it's nowhere near as cut-throat as One or Two. We don't all have a death wish, you know.

No one expected me to last- until I got to the Capitol, that is.

I guess I was sort of gorgeous. I mean I was never one to say I didn't look good, but it's not like it was going to help me get by. No one was going to feed or shelter you in District 4 merely because you were a good-looking kid.

I was a huge success. The Capitol loved me. I was young, handsome, talented- everything they wanted in their Tributes. I won though I probably would not have if it wasn't for overzealous sponsors who sent everything I could have ever wanted or needed. Most didn't even realize the secret to my success until it was far too late. I was unstoppable with my trident and I could impale anyone who crossed my path.

My Games lasted only lasted 17 days, but it's amazing how quickly people can change.

I came back to Annie an entirely different person. She understood though, and could alleviate some of the fears and anxieties that came with being a Victor. I had the nightmares, the survivor's guilt, and the detachment and felt as if nothing would ever be right again. And I was right.

A mere five years later, Annie's name was drawn. I had done everything in my power to make sure she wasn't chosen. I made sure she never had to take tessarae and I attempted to pull a few strings with Luxor, our escort. All my efforts were wasted, as she was chosen in her last year of eligibility.

I vowed to her though that I would make sure she made it out alive. I meant it, too. I was going to do everything possible to ensure that she made it out in one piece. But inside I was heart-broken.

My sun was going to explode. Annie would never be the same when she came out of the Arena, whether she was dead or the Victor. I was glued to the screen in the viewing room. I never left and I was constantly on the phone, trying to persuade some of my former sponsors to send gifts.

What I wasn't expecting was for Elisha to get himself beheaded right in front of Annie. Annie had known Elisha for her entire life. He was her next-door neighbor and the younger brother of her best friend. Seeing him killed in such a gruesome way threw her over the edge. The entire experience was far too much for someone so pure and good to handle. She'd seen at least 5 kids die and many others get wounded. Elisha was the last straw for her.

So she ran and hid. Finally, the dam bust. The entire Arena had been set up like a savannah. Tall grasses were abundant and there were very few trees. There were lots of rocks though and a gigantic waterfall. Some idiot from District Five drowned while trying to cross the river at the top of the waterfall and apparently his body got stuck in the filter. The entire dam burst, flooding the Arena. Annie was the only one left who could swim, therefore the only survivor.

The thing that I resent most about the Capitol and the Games is that they took Annie. She's still here, physically. But she doesn't talk anymore. She used to be able to chatter for hours about anything, but now she just stares into space with a far-off look in her eyes. Then at night, she has the most horrific nightmares. She cries hysterically and starts screaming and waving her arms at nothing. No other Victor that I've heard of has had to deal with this severe of nightmares.

Mags assured me that it's nothing that I could have prevented. She says Annie was always sensitive to other people and her reaction was just her body's way of protecting itself. It doesn't really help, though I give Mags credit for trying.

More than anything, I want Annie to get better again. I wish she'd never gone in the Games. I'd rather be dead than know she's never going to come back. But the odds are slim. I've taken her to see all sorts of fancy Capitol doctors and none of them can fix her. She's broken.

I wonder, when the sun explodes, to all the planets that orbit die, too?